Improvement in railway ties



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

GEORGE E. RICHARDSON, OF EARLVILLE, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY TIES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 140,952, dated July 15, 1873; application filed May 26, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. RICHARD- soN, of the town of Earlville, in the county of La Salle and State of Illinois, have in vented a new and Improved Compound Railroad Tie; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in making arailroad. tie to consist of a permanent or bed part combined with an adjustable part, by means of which that part of the tie to which the rail is attached may be adjusted to the rail without disturbing the bed part of the tie; and it is more particularly applicable as a joint-tie, and is valuable as a means of keeping the joints of the rails firmly in their place by easy adjustment, thereby avoiding the many and hitherto insuperable difficulties experienced in keeping a proper adjustment of the joint-tie to the rails joined upon it. This compound adjustable tie is also peculiarly applicable for use on all railroad bridges, as furnishing the means of easy'adjustment of the tie to the rails without in any manner disturbing any of the permanent timbers of the bridge.

To enable others skilled in the art of constructing railroads to make and use my improvement, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a bottom view of my compound railroad tie. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical central longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is avertical transverse section. V

In these drawings, the letter It represents the permanent part or bed-piece. It represents the superior or adjustable part of the tie. a a represent the wedges fitted between the permanent and adjustable parts of the tie, by means of which the adjustable partR can easily be raised to support the rail resting upon it. In the same figure,b b, &c.,represent the bolts by which the permanent and adjustable parts of the tie are held together.

The key W also holds the two parts of the tie, so that they cannot possibly slide upon each other. The nuts upon the bottom of these tie-bolts are represented as let up into the bot-- tom of the permanent part of the tie.

. The operation of the compound adjustable tie is as follows: The permanent part B is firmly bedded in the ground, and maybe constructed of softer and less perishable wood than now used for railroad ties, as hemlock, cedar, and the like. The adjustable portion of the tie R R is made to fit horizontally upon the top of the permanent part, except at each end on the under surface it is cut at an incline, as shown at c c. This incline c 0 must correspond to the incline on the upper surface of the wedges a a, used for adjusting such part to the rail. When it becomes necessary to adjust the part B R to the rail the bolts b b are turned back until by the unscrewing of the same the adjustable part can be raised to the rail in proper position; then the wedges a are driven in between parts of the tie until the proper adjustment is made. WVhen done the wedge is secured in its place by a spike, or any other equivalent means, the bolt is turned down upon the tie as firmly as possible, and the adjustment is made without disturbing the bed part of the die.

It is unnecessary to cite the many advantages of this tie over the common one. The followin g may be suggested: I It will save much expense in the frequent renewal of joint-ties. It will keep the joints in better condition with less labor, saving breaking of rails, wear of rails, frequent wrecking of trains from breaking rails. It will take fewer men to keep a track in order.

I claim as my invention The permanent and adjustable parts of said railroad tie, in combination with each other and with the wedges by which the adjustment is to be made, substantially as described.

- GEO. It. RICHARDSON.-

In presence of- H. A. CHASE, JOEL TIFFANY. 

